Reasons Why Boulder Should Be #1

I know you're wondering...why hasn't Boulder been rated number one friendliest biking city in America? Minneapolis did it...http://www.bicyclingmag.com/news/featured-stories/1-bike-city-minneapolis

REASONS WHY WE SHOULD BE NUMBER ONE!!

1) 300+ days of sun! (Take THAT, Minneapolis!)

2) Lots and lots of: bike racks...Boulder began converting parking spots into bike rack spots a while ago. Boulder also has many bike-friendly businesses. Some restaurants in Boulder have bike-delivery, and many more businesses aren't too strict about letting cyclists bring their rides indoors for a while.

3) Cyclists in legislation. As of two years ago, Boulder finally voted a cyclist into legislation. He's doing his job. As of last year, bicycles are allowed to ride two-abreast in bike lanes, and the law has been bent to allow motor-vehicles to cross the double yellow in order to meet the required three foot distance rating when passing cyclists.

4) Bike lanes and trails to ride. Hellooo...we're in Colorado. Mountains, anyone?

5) Hasn't happened in Boulder yet, but I'm willing to bet that Boulder will follow Denver's views on bike theft and bump up the stakes a little. As of two years ago in Denver, those little Denver yuppies were spending so much money "being green" and buying such expensive bikes (instead of cars) that legislation in Denver was changed. If you steal a bike that costs as much as a car in Denver, you stole a car...at least in the eyes of the law. Class-two felony. Do it Boulder!

Reasons Why Boulder Isn't Number One (Yet):

1) Wasted college kids driving drunk in the middle of the day. Boulder will probably not be rated number one until kids aren't out for cyclist blood anymore.

2) Too much rivalry? The fixters vs. the spandex guys. Boulder will probably not be number one until we can suck it up and just get along.

3) Bike theft. Silly Trustafarian CU kids...I guess Daddy's wallet just can't supply that adrenaline rush.

Hmm. That's about it.

Maybe all we need is a little more culture...is anyone reading this? Come on, fellow cyclists. Unite for the common cause of number one.

Two-Nine or not Two-Nine?

A couple years ago, the lock securing my mountain bike was cut and my bike was stolen from my front porch. This was tragic. I had no mountain bike, and this meant that the following spring was spent researching and preparing to get a new one. In this research, I decided to take a look at the 29er craze. Just to clear up any possible confusion, a 29er is a mountain bike that uses 700c wheels instead of the usual 26" wheels. I heard all sorts of opinions ranging between the poles of: "it's a gimmick, and it'll disappear in a couple of years," to: "29ers are the greatest mountain bike idea ever – they're as good as riding full suspension!"

Given the wide variance of opinion, I decided to go out on a limb and give it a shot, and now that I've experienced the 29er first hand, I think it's safe to say that I'm a convert. I love the big wheels and the fatty tires. While the larger wheel size occasionally felt a little squirrelly in the beginning, especially when making hairpin turns or when cutting along switchbacks, I quickly adjusted and soon fell in love with the sensation that once those big beautiful wheels got rolling, there wasn't anything that was going to stop them! The larger wheel circumference really does allow riders to roll more easily and smoothly over obstacles, and while I won't go as far as to agree that it's like riding full-suspension, I will say that in the world of hardtails, 29ers are tough to beat. The one drawback to the larger wheels is that shorter riders (anyone significantly shorter than 6 feet tall) may feel uncomfortable riding a 29er.

So, as far as this mountain biker is concerned, here's the final verdict: any biker in the vicinity of 6 feet or taller should definitely give a 29er a shot. These bikes are not a gimmicky fad, but a great mountain bike design which really allows hardtail riders to pound the trails harder than ever before.

Amazing Grace

It was one of those days. . . My list of important things left undone for the day was taller than the stack of dishes threatening to topple out of the sink, and there was no way to take care of any of it because I had to take the bus down to work in Denver for the rest of the night. I was feeling flustered, but it became full-fledged frustration when I opened my backpack to find the soup and crackers I packed for dinner in a crumbly, pasty, gruel mess all over the place.

Pissed off and still a little bit hungry, I dragged my bike out of the bus's storage, got off at Union Station, and started pedaling furiously. After passing my third or fourth bus and beating cars off the line at another green light, cutting out in front of them to turn left, with the red sunset sunlight chasing me, and the road itself urging me on through intersection after intersection, I noticed a nice change taking place: a smile. I smiled. I looked up and around at the buildings of downtown Denver and smiled some more. I looked at the cars and buses behind me and smiled until it became a laugh. I owned this city! They couldn't stop me . . . weaving around cars, shooting in front of them, blasting past row after row of buildings and corners and people waiting for buses or maybe taxis, going wherever I wanted – these streets were mine! I pedaled even harder – but this time out of joy. The joy of the two-wheeled. Of the self-powered. Of the burning thighs, deep lungs, and undeniable FUN of cranking those pedals on a beautiful Colorado evening.

Amazing! Biking saved my day, and entirely transformed me from this:

to this:

I fell in love all over again, and the words of Anis Mojgani, one of the most beautiful human beings still looking at the stars while pedaling a bike, rushed through my bicycle-dosed brain: "Rock out like the streets are empty except for you, your bicycle, and your headphones!"

Pedal hard, rock out, and be happy.

Interview with a Non-Cyclist

Me: if you could ask any question about the cycling culture in Boulder, what would it be?

Non-cyclist: what's up with people commuting on "fixies"? I really don't get it...how are they good commuter bikes in any way?

Me:...I...don't...know...

And that's how the interview went. I really had no idea how to answer that question. I mean, how do you explain hipster style to a Boulderite non-cyclist? Why do they do anything they do? How is any part of their ride functional in any way? Number one, the pants. How can pants that tight be functional in any way for riding? Stretch pants or not...they defy the laws of physics. Friction? Never heard of it.

Let's actually look at the pants themselves...often trashed, stained, maybe some cigarette burns, wayyy too small. It would appear that the average fixie rider isn't able to buy new pants. But first glance at their fifteen-hundred dollar ride reveals the truth.

In any case, Boulder seems to me to be just too hilly to allow the fixie to cross over into the realm of the commuter. But I suppose to someone who lives the disposable, consumeristic life of a hipster, knees are just another commodity... I don't mean to be a hater, but

I bet this guy would have something to say------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSJoD3YQenE

The Pavement Saga

Check out this little article written by Alexis Madrigal in which the central role of bicyclists in the proliferation of paved roadways in America is discussed. His piece begins with this informative bit of history:

"The bicycle, quite literally, paved the road for automobiles. The explosive popularity of the human-powered, two-wheeled vehicle sparked road construction across the Western world’s cities. The League of American Wheelmen was a major vector for the political will necessary to build better roads with more than one million members (out of a mere 75 million people) at its peak. Sure they engaged in silliness like racing and bicycle polo (!) but at heart, the group was a potent, progressive social force that inadvertently helped bring about its own end by getting roads paved, thus making long distance 'touring' possible in automobiles."

As Madrigal mentioned, it is definitely ironic that the push for better bicycling infrastructure "inadvertently helped bring about its own end" and led to its most common and widespread enemy: the automobile.

Boulder has recently taken some interesting steps in returning paved roads to their bicycle-centered roots. Last month, the city began an important experiment in which certain car parking spaces along Pearl Street have been converted to bike racks.

This is a great first step in giving bicycles higher priority in our cities, and in viewing them as viable and legitimate means of daily transportation. Given the interesting historical role of bicycles, it is an interesting move toward the reclaiming of America's streets by the very social force which gave rise to paved roads in the first place. Let's be sure the cycling community stays strong and active so that these new racks stay always full of happily parked bikes. Let's work to return paved roads to their original purpose – more accessible and enjoyable bicycling!

Pathletes on the Prowl

Pathlete: An individual, normally a dirc if not dircish, who employs multi-use paths as an area to demonstrate athletic prowess.

The multi-use paths are a gift to Boulder residents as a place where anyone can exercise without the distraction or noise pollution of combustible engines. These sanctuaries from murderous four wheeled machines, in the opinion of myself, are taken for granted by many of the residents in Boulder. It should be noted that there is both an unwritten list of rules that pertains to bike paths and that certain actions should not be tolerated by the Republic of Boulder. With the introduction of this school year, the current rate of pathletes in the Boulder area is increasing at an exponential rate. It may be that the incoming freshman class is full of pathletes waiting to destroy the sanctity of the paths, or, the community as a whole needs to re-evaluate the unwritten, soon to be written, rules of the bike path. These rules vary from different bike types and ultimately must be handled on a personal basis.

Mountain Bikes

- Individuals who choose to ride knobby tires must abide by the following rules.

- 1. Just because it is possible to pop a wheelie etc. on the side of the trail does not make it necessary to jump off the side and land on small to larger dogs.

2. Trials riding is not allowed on the bike path (the intensity is too much for the of the public of the path).

3. Getting Stoked (a level of high enthusiasm usually resulting in copious fist pumping) should be limited to a minimum on the path.

Road Bikes

- A woman or man whose clothing of choice is tight lycra

1. Small ring only!! It is not necessary to hammer (goin fast) on the bike path

2. If you choose to play three sports in one, do not go into you aero bars on the path. Cow horns only.

3. The path is not for intervals, no training should be accumulated on the path.

4. The ability to go fast on the road does not mean you are a race car driver. Stick to your lane and not the apex.

Runners

- People who instead of using continuous tread, alternate rubber tread to the left and right side of the body.

1. Keep the headphone volume to a minimum, its good to have your senses open to what’s around you

2. Be weary of your knees. Buy a bicycle.

Recumbent/Lone wolves

- Keep your flag flying and stick to your thing

Proper technique to avoid Pathetes

1. Beware of all Tri-Athletes, they are not to be trusted on the path.

2. Have a bell at the ready for distracted runners and lycra clad roadies. If the bell doesn't work, emergency evacuation may be necessary.

3. While merging onto the path, look both ways and avoid boarding on blind spots.

4. Good Luck!

Abide by these rules and your inner pathlete will be suppressed.

reclaim our space

I was once walking down a sidewalk. I saw this on the wall. I really liked it. I took a picture of it. I really liked it so I put it on this blog. I hope others really like it. I hope you really like it.

This painting, beyond simply being a great way of showing love to the bicycle and the bicycle's rider, is especially thought-provoking. A bicycle seems to be a fitting image to be tagged onto a wall as street art since both this style of art and the bike itself are all about forcing us to rethink our spaces. Street art makes us rethink walls, sidewalks, bridges, bricks, and advertisements as things with the potential of doing something other than selling us stuff or encouraging us to buy stuff. It makes us reconsider what belongs to individuals and what belongs to the community.

Similarly, bicycles challenge us to rethink our spaces. If we stop and think about things, it's crazy how much of our resources are continually devoted to maintaining and supporting cars. An automatically assumed aspect of any building or any part of a city is the car -- roads sprawl everywhere to provide direct automobile access to everything, every building and every portion of the city must roll out huge slabs of concrete for parking lots and paint out infinite rows of parking spaces, and we automatically plan on making intense, costly, repetitive, and seemingly eternal rounds of construction and repairs for these pieces of car-based infrastructure. Now, let's compare all this to the bike. Take a look at any multi-use path in Boulder and there it is -- that's the vision of the infrastructure required by bicycles. Small, clean, easily maintained, and much more sustainable pathways.

Bicycling makes us all reconsider the ways we structure our living spaces, our neighborhoods, our communities, and our cities. It challenges the assumptions forced on us by cars through providing a legitimate alternative, and it makes us rethink how much of our spaces are thoughtlessly devoted to providing for and catering to the monstrous automobile machine.

We Demand Proof!

Many of us bike commuters often maintain that we actually make it to our daily destinations faster and more conveniently than our gas-pedal-pushing counterparts. This claim has been on the table long enough as simply a bold assertion, and well, we’ve all received some form of schooling for long enough to have become fully trained to demand proof. Empirical proof! With this in mind, I figured it was time for a little test. An experiment. A race.

To conduct this experiment, a cyclist and an automobilist were selected. Each was to leave from the exact same location at the exact same time and head for the exact same destination, in this case a specific classroom on the CU-Boulder campus, 2.6 miles away from the starting point. They were both directed to travel at the “usual pace” and to stick to their “usual route.” Admittedly the “usual pace” thing is a tough variable to really truly control, but that’s all right, in the real world, some sunrises inspire us to pedal faster than others anyway. And with that, BANG! the gun sounds, and they’re off!

Here’s what happened:

- the automobilist made it to the vicinity of campus five minutes before the cyclist
- the automobilist then had to find somewhere to park
- meanwhile, the cyclist, singing and whistling, pedaled to the chosen building
- the cyclist then locked the bike, and walked to the designated classroom
- the cyclist waited . . .
- because they spent all their money on gas and oil changes, the automobilist couldn’t afford to park ($136/semester on campus, $1.75/hr. parking garage, $0.25/10 minutes on campus meters, $1.25/hr. city of Boulder meters)

- consequently, the automobilist drove around in circles looking for free parking
- the automobilist finally parked
- the automobilist walked a few blocks to the building
- the automobilist made it to the designated classroom ten minutes after the cyclist

The final conclusion:

- although the automobilist initially beat the cyclist to the destination, all the real-life inconveniences and nonsensical sillinesses of driving a car around town (in this case primarily parking and the costs of paying to park, but we also have to consider traffic jams, accidents, gas fill-ups, the price of these fill-ups, noxious emissions, breakdowns, the cost of fixing these breakdowns, and overall unwieldiness) set the automobilist forever, and irreversibly, behind the cyclist.



Three cheers for bicycles!

Hip-Hip-Hooray! Hip-Hip-Hooray! Hip-Hip-Hooray!